Chiefs maintain winning run, Brumbies rally to beat Reds

The Chiefs stretched their winning run to five Super Rugby matches with a 21-19 success over the Blues, while the Brumbies and the Waratahs also claimed victories on Saturday.

Tana Umaga’s Blues were consigned to a 63-40 defeat by the Sharks last weekend and looked set to respond with a win at Waikato Stadium until a penalty try seven minutes from time settled it for the home side.

The Chiefs are now unbeaten in 14 matches against the Blues, but they were made to work for their latest derby triumph in Hamilton, where the bottom side in the New Zealand Conference led 19-14 at half-time.

Sean Wainui scored the opening try after taking an offload from Damian McKenzie, who put the Chiefs 14-9 with his third penalty of the match following three from Stephen Perofeta at the other end.

James Parsons bulldozed his way over for the Blues’ opening try after they had applied the pressure and Perofeta took his tally to 14 points with a fourth penalty on the stroke of half-time.

Resolute defending and unforced errors frustrated the Chiefs until referee Paul Williams awarded a penalty try following a collapsed scrum while Josh Goodhue was in the sin bin, as the Blues suffered a fifth defeat out of six. 

FT | @ChiefsRugby extend their unbeaten run against @BluesRugbyTeam to a #SuperRugby record 14 straight games.#CHIvBLU pic.twitter.com/yqQE6IV6zw

— Super Rugby (@SuperRugbyNZ) April 7, 2018

The Brumbies rallied from 15 points down to claim a 45-21 bonus-point victory over the Reds at GIO Stadium.

Tries from Taniela Tupou and Chris Feauai-Sautia and a Jono Lance penalty put the Reds in control midway through the first half, but the Brumbies cut the gap to 18-12 at the interval after Folau Fainga’a and Isi Naisarani went over.

The Brumbies bossed the second half, Naisarani completing a double and David Pocock scoring one of five tries for Dan McKellar’s men as they ran away with a third win of the season.

Jake Gordon scored two of seven tries for the Waratahs in their 50-29 win over the Sunwolves, Bernard Foley finishing with 15 points in Tokyo.

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